Exhibitions: World museums unite for Dulwich Gallery's 200th

LONDON (Reuters) - London's Dulwich Picture Gallery turns 200 in January, and the museum is in for a birthday treat of 12 masterpieces from around the world, one for every month of its anniversary year.

The paintings to be loaned to the gallery in the south of the capital including major works by Velazquez, Vermeer, El Greco, Veronese, Rembrandt, Ingres, Van Gogh, Gainsborough, Constable and Hockney.

"Dulwich is recognised internationally as a really important museum in the history of museums," said gallery director Ian Dejardin.

"So I felt able to go and visit and write to directors of major institutions that we've worked with over the years to suggest to them that they might like to lend what I suppose is a glorified birthday card.

"One loan, one masterpiece every month of the year. It's like an unfolding calendar, it's like a year long advent calendar of your dreams."

The rolling exhibit will be called "Masterpiece a Month" and the museums contributing works to the scheme include the Prado in Madrid, Florence's Uffizi, the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam and Britain's Royal Collection.

Vincent Van Gogh's "Self-portrait," Diego Velazquez's "Don Sebastian de Morra" and David Hockney's "Mr. and Mrs. Clark and Percy" are among the paintings that will adorn the end wall of the gallery's enfilade space.

As well as the Masterpiece a Month exhibit, the oldest public art gallery in London is also staging a show dedicated to U.S. illustrator Norman Rockwell, most famous for his covers of the popular American magazine "The Saturday Evening Post" between 1916 and 1963.
Continued...